Metal and hard rock reviews

Death Angel – The Dream Calls for Blood (Nuclear Blast 2013)

Death Angel is one of those bands that keeps releasing quality records, but never gets the proper recognition. I will admit that that there has been a few low points in their catalog, but the music has never been bad. In later years Death Angel seem to have rediscovered their earlier passion and drive, maybe the line up changes where just what was needed to bring back the inspiration.

Just like Relentless Retribution this album is packed with up tempo, riff heavy songs. Most of the music is written by Rob Cavestany, as usual, and there seems to be no shortage of ideas, riffs or melodies from Mr. Cavestany.

The only thing that bothers about the songwriting is a few of the vocal melodies. Mark Osegueda has such a great voice, yet he so often, too often in my opinion, chooses the slightly out of tune scream, or squeal if you like. On a few of the songs, most notably the title track and Fallen, this is done so much it gets annoying. It seems to me that he sells himself short and doesn’t go all the way, so to speak. Because when he emulates Dio on the excellent Heaven and Hell cover that finishes of the album, you can really tell what a great voice he has and how much power he’s got in his pipes.

There are really no bad songs on The Dream Call For Blood. My personal favorite is the opener, Left for Dead. When the guitar kicks in after the short intro, there is no looking back. It’s super fast, super heavy, ass kicking thrash metal for the next five minutes.

The only track I don’t like is the third track, Fallen. I’m not really sure what it is about this song, except for the vocal thing mentioned above, there is just something about it that irritates me.

Other tunes worth a mention is Detonate, Son of the Morning and Territorial Instinct / Bloodlust. Just high quality thrash all the way, bursting with energy and power.